We lost the World Series. I’m sad and disappointed in the outcome and, at the same time, so grateful for being so sad and disappointed.
Every spring for as long as I can remember I’ve hoped and wished the Dodgers would end the season as World Series champs. Sometimes it happens. But most of the time it doesn’t. And those many times when it doesn’t you don’t stop being a fan as a result. If that were the case Houston wouldn’t have had any fans left to enjoy this, their first championship.
When you’re a fan you’re in it for the long haul. You ride the drama of every pitch, every hit, and every game along the way. When you’re lucky, you get more joy than disappointment.
It’s hard to feel like this year wasn’t more joyous than disappointing. It was without a doubt the most fun I’ve had in a Dodger season since 1988. It wasn’t just the steady march to the postseason (well, steady except for that mid-August to September slump) it was the way the Dodgers came together as a team and gave me more fun afternoons and evenings than I can count. The walkoff wins; the dominating pitches; the sheer energy of a young team having fun. It was all a blast.
These past few weeks I was telling everyone how amazed I was at how affected I was by every game, the wins and the losses. It was a physical experience for me and, to an extent, for my whole family. What a wonderous thing to rise so high and fall so low all on a bunch of grown men trying to hit a ball with a stick!
That’s what brings us back each time. It’s not just the possibility that this year might be our year, it’s the journey to find out whether it is or not. I wish I was celebrating a World Series win right now but I know what I feel will eventually fade and leave me right back where I started—in love with the Dodgers and ready to enjoy the ride to find out.
Hats off to Houston. And hats off to my Dodgers. It was a hell of a year and a hell of a series. Even better—next season is only 5 months away.
LATINO LIKE ME 
You remind me of how much I miss real seasons. One of the biggest reasons for adding a wild card team, supposedly, was that in 1993, the Giants won 103 games and finished second. In later years, they would ride the wild card through to a World Series win, and I was happy. But baseball used to have different seasons than other sports, their seasons used to matter. I still remember 1982 like it was yesterday, and the Giants came in third place that year.